As you progress through college, you will start to find a good set of items to always carry around with you in your bag. Here are the items I normally carry:

1. Laptop charger: Although I can usually get several hours out of my laptop, if I am gone for the day, I will need to charge it eventually. Having a second charger that I leave in my backpack means I can leave my primary charger plugged in at home. Also, if your charger has a bulky transformer on the plug, having an adapter so you can still plug it in with another device connected is helpful.
2. USB phone charging cable + USB wall adapter: As above, you never know when your phone might die on you. The USB cable gives you the option of charging through your laptop, while the wall adapter is nice if you want to leave your phone to charge in a safe location.
3. i>Clicker: While you might only have a couple of classes that actually use an i>Clicker, it is very annoying to forget to bring this device. Since it does not take up much space, I simply leave it in my bag. Similarly, a calculator is also useful to keep in the bag for those math and physics classes.
4. Flash Drive: The cloud is the new hip thing, but there are times where a good old fashioned flash drive comes in handy. I leave one 4gb drive on my keyring, and another 4gb drive in my backpack. This ensures that I always have a drive when I need one.
5. Headphones (with microphone): Whether you are watching a movie, playing a game, or doing an important phone interview (hence the microphone), headphones are always handy to have.
6. Pens, Pencils, Paper: You might be a computer scientist, but you may still need to handwrite things. Your exams will also usually be hand written. Don’t be that person who is always asking their friend for a pen and paper. Make sure you have either a sharpener or extra lead if it is mechanical.
7. Laptop and Cell Phone: These two are probably the most obvious, but you will probably want to have these with you.
8. A sturdy and comfortable bag. You will be carrying this bag around with you quite a bit. Make sure it won’t break from the load and that it does not hurt you after carrying it around for a while.
9. A water bottle (you will definitely get some free ones from companies, but feel free to bring your own). It’s important to stay hydrated! While there are water fountains in every building on every floor, water bottles serve as a reminder and are much more convenient.